One month later…
The forest felt very different when Shion and Chirithy stepped back into it. It was darker and less welcoming, and felt unseasonably colder. Somehow, it felt as if the sounds of insects and animals flowing through the trees had an almost desperate quality to them.
Shion closed her eyes and focused, then opened them again, sighing in dismay.
The darkness in this world was spreading, and at an alarming rate.
“The Union leaders weren’t kidding when they said this world was in danger of being overwhelmed by darkness,” Chirithy said somberly, “I didn’t believe it at first. We were just here, and everything looked fine!”
Shion hadn’t believed it either. When Master Ava approached them and outlined the situation, that the Union leaders had had an emergency meeting and had sensed this world’s imminent demise, she couldn’t fathom how it was possible. Had Dark Heart run out of control, and actually defeated the Care Bears and Cousins? They were so strong, so full of light and love…
“I hate to say it, but this is probably our fault as well,” Chirithy continued, “We should have stayed to investigate Dark Heart further.”
“Maybe that’s why Master Ava sent us,” Shion answered.
“To clean up our mess?” Chirithy asked.
Shion shook her head. “We’ve been to this world more often than the other Keyblade Wielders. We know people here personally. And we wouldn’t hesitate to help if they were in trouble.”
“You’re right,” Chirithy replied, “No use beating ourselves up over what we didn’t do then. Let’s focus on what we can do now.”
Shion nodded.
Camp Thunderbird was in ruins. Buildings were speckled with graffiti. Windows were shattered, and the canoes and other camp equipment were broken and ripped. A couple of kids kicked over a statue and ran off, laughing nastily.
Shion caught sight of Dawn and John, who had walked over to the statue and pushed it upright.
“Shion!” Dawn said, as both she and John rushed over.
“Visiting again?” John asked.
“Uh, sort of,” Shion replied.
“You’ve come at a bad time,” Dawn said, “Something strange has been happening lately. All the other kids…”
“...are destroying everything,” John finished. “Whatever’s gotten into them is getting into everything. Even the animals in the forest have been acting weird.”
“Even weirder things have been showing up,” Dawn added, “I haven’t seen them myself, but some of the other kids have been whispering about dark, shadowy… creatures wandering around…”
Shion immediately sensed a surge of darkness behind them. She summoned her Keyblade and struck down a Heartless in mid-air. She looked around wildly and saw that they were surrounded by Heartless of all shapes and sizes.
“Creatures like those!” Dawn shouted.
Shion continued to slash and fire at the Heartless. The darkness had spread so much that they were getting bold – attacking people right out in the open instead of in dark, isolated places like the forest. She put up a good fight, but eventually her stamina weakened – and there were still more Heartless to fight.
“There’s too many of them,” John said fearfully, “They just keep coming!”
A large Heartless slammed into Shion, knocking her into the ground. She looked up weakly and shielded herself with her Keyblade, but no final blow came. Instead, the Heartless was hit by two large light beams and disintegrated.
She looked up to see two Care Bears run toward them, driving the Heartless back with their Care Bear Stare. The Heartless, noticing that reinforcements had come, decided to turn tail and run off rather than be blown to pieces.
“Are you all right?” one of the Care Bears asked.
Shion nodded and picked herself up from the ground. “Thanks.”
“Hey,” Dawn spoke up, “You’re the cubs!”
The Care Bear smiled. “I’m Friend Bear.” The other Care Bear tapped her on the shoulder. “And this is Secret Bear.”
She looked back at them seriously. “We’ve come to find you. You’re the only ones who haven’t been affected by Dark Heart’s influence.”
“Do you know what’s happening to everyone?” John asked, “And everything?”
“It’s definitely Dark Heart’s doing,” Friend Bear answered. Secret Bear whispered something into Friend Bear’s ear, and she nodded. “And someone in this camp is helping him do it!”
They were interrupted by a shout that echoed through the empty, ruined camp. Following it was a cry for help.
“Someone’s in trouble!” Dawn said, “We need to help them!” She and John immediately ran toward the noise. Shion followed.
“Oh, no!” Friend Bear echoed, but for an entirely different reason.
They all ran toward the pier. In the distance, someone sat in a canoe in the middle of the lake, with the paddles floating in the water. They waved their arms and continued calling out for help.
“What do we do?” Dawn asked, “John and I can’t swim too well, and-”
“Wait a minute, guys,” Friend Bear interrupted, “We shouldn’t-”
The chugging of several Cloud Cars and Rainbow Rollers signaled the arrival of more Care Bears – Share, Champ and Good Luck Bear. Friend Bear and Secret Bear looked up and frantically waved their arms to get their attention, but they went unheeded.
“Wait!” Friend Bear shouted, “Stop!”
John peered across the lake at the figure in the canoe. It looked like a girl, and she seemed very familiar. “Christy…?”
“Christy?” Dawn repeated, “But why is she…? What’s she doing?”
“Hey!” Good Luck Bear called out, uncoiling a rope toward Christy. “Grab hold of the line!”
Christy looked up at the rope, then looked down sadly.
“Why won’t she grab it?” Share Bear asked.
Suddenly, a red lightning bolt ripped across the sky, destroying the vehicles the three Care Bears were sitting in. They tumbled through the air, dropping into a large, red bag.
“Oh, no!” Friend Bear wailed, “We’re too late!”
“What’s going on?” a voice called out from behind.
They turned to see Tenderheart Bear, Grumpy Bear, and Brave Heart Lion run up, just in time to see the three trapped Care Bears fall into Dark Heart’s realm. The red bag disappeared, and a dark red cloud descended toward the stranded canoe. The cloud shimmered, and changed into the form of a red-haired boy.
“Dark Heart!” Brave Heart growled. “Come on, we have to save that little girl!”
“Better not, Brave Heart,” Friend Bear said sadly. “Secret Bear and I saw her throw her paddles into the water. She’s working with Dark Heart!”
“But why?” Dawn demanded, “How could she do this?”
No one had an answer.
“We were trying to figure it out,” Tenderheart Bear began, “Why so many Care Bears were sent on missions and weren’t coming back.”
“Well, we have our answer,” Grumpy Bear concluded. “Dark Heart’s been trapping them.”
“What should we do now?” Brave Heart Lion asked.
“Gather the Care Bear Cousins,” Tenderheart answered, “Meet us at the Hall of Hearts. Quickly, before there aren’t enough of us left to help!”
“We’re coming too,” John said, nodding at Dawn. They looked over to Shion, who nodded in agreement.
Christy sat slumped in the canoe, feeling disgusted with herself and her role in Dark Heart’s plans.
When Dark Heart approached her for his “favor,” Christy slowly began to realize the mess she had gotten herself into. By being made Camp Champ, she had basically made a deal with the devil. In addition to clearly not being a normal boy, Dark Heart was cold and relentless, with a diabolical urge to cause harm to anyone and anything. She knew in her heart it was wrong to help him.
But the gift he had given her – the ability to become Camp Champ – she just couldn’t let it go! She dreaded going back to being a nobody, to never win another race, or swim and paddle without tiring out. To never be looked at as a hero ever again. To go back to doing laundry and trash duty every week…
But then again, the Care Bears were kind and good, and she was helping to take them down, like a villain. She had realized much too late that they were the cubs Dawn and John had taken care of the year before, and she had seen the good they had done for her two friends. Unlike her.
Tears stung her eyes and she wiped them violently. How was she going to live with herself after this errand was done and all the Care Bears were captured?
“Why so glum, Christy? You’re doing a great job!”
Christy glared at the other occupant of the canoe. Dark Heart stared back at her with a sharp, cold smile.
“When can we stop?” Christy demanded.
“When I have all of those bears and their cousins in my grasp,” Dark Heart replied.
Christy scowled. “No!”
Dark Heart ignored her. “Noble Heart and True Heart will soon realize that they’ve been chasing my shadow. When they come, I’ll be ready for them. There’ll be no one left to stop me!” He stood up, causing the canoe to rock violently. Losing his balance, Dark Heart slipped. His head slammed against the side of the canoe, and he quickly sank into the water.
“Hey!” Christy looked down at the water. “Hey, what are you doing?” She wondered if he was playing a prank on her, and waited for him to surface. When he didn’t, she started to panic.
“Oh, no!” she shouted, jumping into the water after him. After a few pulse-pounding minutes, she surfaced, dragging Dark Heart with her and dumping him into the canoe.
Dark Heart slowly opened his eyes and stared back at her in confusion. “You saved me. Why?”
Christy let out a huff as she climbed back into the canoe. “Good or bad,” she answered crossly, “you’re still a person. Or whatever you are.”
“If you knew any better,” Dark Heart said, “you would have left me.”
“That’s what you would have done,” Christy said sullenly. “I think that’s the only difference between us.”
Dark Heart didn’t say anything for a moment. Then he snapped his fingers, and the canoe glided away.
“So this is all of us that are left,” Tenderheart Bear said, looking around sadly. The many empty seats in the Hall of Hearts highlighted the small handful of Care Bears and Cousins that remained.
“What can we do?” Harmony Bear asked, “There used to be so many of us...”
“We can’t stop caring,” Brave Heart said, “We can’t just stop helping people!”
“Right,” Tenderheart nodded. “And Dark Heart knows it. Every time we go to help someone, that someone could be Christy setting another trap!”
“What about Noble Heart and True Heart?” Grumpy Bear asked.
“I don’t know, Grumpy,” Tenderheart replied, “But we can’t wait for them to come back. It’s up to us. If we lose, there’ll be nothing left!”
Dawn and John sat nearby, looking hopeless.
Shion thought hard, trying to come up with a solution. They were outnumbered and outgunned. There were so few Care Bears left, and Shion now knew that their strength was in numbers. When they were all together, almost nothing could stop them.
Strength in numbers.
Strength in-
Shion’s eyes popped open. She looked over at Tenderheart. “Do you know where Dark Heart’s home base is?” she asked. An idea started forming in her head.
“Dark Heart’s home base?” Tenderheart repeated. “It’s… somewhere below Camp Thunderbird.”
“Right under the camp counselors’ building, actually,” Bright Heart Raccoon said.
“You have a plan?” Harmony Bear asked, hope in her eyes.
“I think I do…” Shion answered slowly. She turned to Secret Bear and beckoned him toward her. She whispered something into his ear, and Secret Bear relayed it to Tenderheart, who listened for a moment, then nodded.
“It sounds risky,” Tenderheart said, “But I think we can pull it off. Tell us more!”
Everyone gathered around as Shion outlined more of her plan.
Night fell as the small group approached the ruined camp. As they waited in the tree line, a Star Buddy went on ahead, scouting the camp counselors’ building. Finding no one, the Star Buddy flashed its light.
“That’s the signal,” Bright Heart Raccoon said. He turned to Tenderheart and Brave Heart and nodded. They headed out toward the building, with the other Bears and Cousins following.
“You two know what you have to do?” Bright Heart asked Dawn and John.
“Leave Christy to us,” Dawn answered.
“You help the others,” John added.
“Good luck,” Shion said.
“You too!” Dawn and John ran off.
Shion and Bright Heart nodded, then followed the rest of the group inside the building.
Once inside Dark Heart’s lair, the feelings of darkness that already permeated everything became even worse. The air felt charged, and Shion could almost feel her Keyblade vibrate against it, as if the very air was darkness and it was trying to keep it away.
A loud, raucous laugh suddenly echoed through the cave, making everyone jump.
With a shimmer, Dark Heart appeared in his human form. “You walked right into my trap!”
“Dark Heart!” Tenderheart shouted.
At the back of the group, Bright Heart quickly gave Shion a shove. “Go!” he whispered.
Shion nodded, then sprinted away from them, concealing herself behind a large rock. She felt bad for leaving them out in the open and defenseless, but in order for the plan to work, she had to remain uncaptured.
Dark Heart then conjured up a strong wind, blowing the Care Bears and Cousins off their feet and down a dark passageway. Sheltered behind the rock, Shion was able to stand her ground.
Dark Heart reverted to his baseless, cloud form, and hovered down the passageway.
Shion waited nervously in the now-quiet cave, until Dark Heart re-emerged, in his human form, yawning and looking extremely tired. When he passed her hiding place and disappeared into another part of the cave, Shion launched herself away from the rock and ran down the passageway.
The passage led to another large cave, filled with scores of stone cages. Each cage held a single Bear or Cousin.
“Shion!” Tenderheart said, beaming. “I knew you’d come through!” He turned toward the others. “See? We wanted to get caught. We’re strongest when we’re all together. Now we can make a stand against Dark Heart!”
Shion lifted her Keyblade, then pointed it at one of the cages. With multiple flashes of light, each of the cages unlocked, and all of the Care Bears and Cousins were free.
Meanwhile, Christy sat near the lake. The reflection of the moon against the water, and the lapping of the waves made for a peaceful scene, but Christy felt far from peaceful.
She felt absolutely sorry for herself.
She cursed herself for ever meeting Dark Heart and taking what he had offered, and at the same time cursed herself for not standing up to him and siding with the Care Bears. In wanting to be strong, she had become so weak.
She threw a stone across the lake, watching it skip across the water. She never would have been able to do that, before Dark Heart. She thought about the other abilities she had gained, wondered if they were worth letting the Care Bears be captured. Her heart said no, absolutely not. But she just couldn’t let go.
Another, horrifying thought crept into her mind. What would Dawn and John think of her? Would they hate her for what she did? Somehow, she couldn’t bear that. What would she do the next time they met?
Then, familiar voices called out, and her blood turned to ice.
“Christy!”
She looked up. “John? Dawn?” she blurted out, “What are you doing here? Run away before he gets you too!”
Dawn shook her head. “No, Christy. We’re staying.”
“We’re going to help.” John added.
“We can make things go back to the way they were before Dark Heart came here,” Dawn said.
Christy turned away. “Since I’ve been Camp Champ,” she said, her voice trembling, “I’ve never made you do trash duty, or push you in the mud. No one laughs at you anymore if you trip and fall on your face. I won’t let them!” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “I can’t go back to being a nobody, not now!”
John and Dawn took both of her hands. “You were never a nobody, Christy,” Dawn said forcefully.
“You were always good at being our friend,” John added gently.
Christy pushed them away. “I made a bargain with him,” she said, close to tears. “I had to keep my part of it. It’s too late. The damage has been done.”
“All right,” Dawn shot back, “So you’ve paid him back. Now you have to stop him from hurting all the others!”
“It’s time you thought of them,” John said, “Of your friends.” He walked over and placed something small into Christy’s hand.
“You were always the Marble Champ,” he said softly. “And that you did all by yourself.”
With that, John and Dawn turned and started walking away.
Christy opened her hand to see a small colored marble, the one she had prized so long ago.
They were right, she realized. She had friends who were worth saving. Even though she had done so much that was wrong, they were still willing to reach out to her and pull her back from the darkness. If they would do that, she thought, just imagine what the Care Bears were willing to do.
The Care Bears had to be saved. And Dark Heart had to be stopped.
Making her decision, Christy closed her hand into a fist.
“Dawn! John!” she called out, “Wait for me!”
All was silent as Shion and the Care Bears crept into Dark Heart’s gilded “throne room.” Dark Heart slept on his throne, occasionally morphing into different forms as he slept.
“Now’s our chance to get him while he’s down!” Grumpy Bear said.
Shion nodded. Although normally, her sense of honor wouldn’t let her strike down a defenseless foe, Dark Heart was formidable enough that she knew he would be ten times worse when awake.
She crept toward Dark Heart’s sleeping form and lifted her Keyblade. But before she could land a blow, Dark Heart suddenly awoke and blocked it with his own blade.
Shion slid backwards a few feet, and gasped, staring at the blade Dark Heart was holding. A Soul Eater!
Dark Heart laughed. “Did you think it would be that easy?” he said angrily. He looked around at all of the freed Care Bears and Cousins. “It’s time I put you where I should have put you in the first place!”
He lifted his blade and slashed, creating a massive dark wave that enveloped them all. Then all the Care Bears and Cousins disappeared, leaving Shion alone where she stood.
Dark Heart then turned toward Shion. “Now, with them out of the way, it’s time to take care of you little pest!”
Shion lifted her Keyblade and assumed a fighting stance, preparing for the fight of her life.